Flooded With Help, But Still Flailing

“We were not prepared to make the best use of foreign support. Some foreign governments sought to contribute aid that the United States could not accept or did not require. In other cases, needed resources were tied up by bureaucratic red tape. But more broadly, we lacked the capability to prioritize and integrate such a large quantity of foreign assistance into the ongoing response.”

Procedures for conveying information on needs to the international community, requesting foreign assistance, and reviewing offers of foreign assistance are described in the International Assistance System Concept of Operations.

But today it is unclear if any of these mechanisms—developed as a direct result of the Katrina experience—are being utilized.

Twenty-nine countries and international organizations have offered equipment and experts, but only a few such offers have been accepted. Most countries have been greeted not by open arms, but by silence.

Take Sweden, for example. After offering assistance shortly after the oil rig fire, the Swedes received a request for information about their specialized assets from the State Department on May 7. Swedish officials answered the inquiry the same day, saying that some assets (such as booms) could be sent within days and that it would take a couple of weeks to send ships. There are three brand new Swedish Coast Guard vessels built for dealing with a major oil spill cleanup. Each has a capacity to collect nearly 50 tons of oil per hour from the surface of the sea and can hold 1,000 tons of spilled oil in their tanks.

The delay in accepting offers of assistance is unacceptable. The international community possesses specialized equipment and technical expertise that, if the U.S. has at all, is in limited supply. Even now that the Obama Administration is finally waking up to this reality—months into the disaster—by slowly accepting offers of assistance, there seems to be a failure to coordinate the assistance offered and to communicate the Administration’s needs to the international community. Both are reminiscent of the Katrina experience.

As first reported in the Washington Post, the Obama Administration, rather expeditiously accepting the offers, hesitated and then made the decision not to accept the aid:

The State Department’s chart11 raises more questions than it answers. Most of the offers—many of which are months old—are simply listed as “under consideration.” This provides no real indication of the status of the request to the American public or the foreign governments
who have stepped up to help us meet this challenge.

The chart also highlights that most of the offers require reimbursement. Noting this fact, the Associated Press highlighted the aid that the U.S. has historically provided to some of the nations offering assistance for the oil spill. But this article misses the point. During Hurricane Katrina, thirty-six foreign nations and international organizations donated $126 million and forty-three provided in-kind donations to the U.S. Other countries have similar examples. Sweden, for instance, has provided disaster relief to countries in Africa at no cost to the recipient. But when Sweden was itself hit by heavy windstorms a couple of years ago, the Swedes paid Germany and the Czech Republic for the emergency power units they provided. This distinction between humanitarian aid and technical assistance is an important one.

More fundamentally, the cost factor should be irrelevant, given that this is an unprecedented environmental disaster with grave economic consequences to the Gulf region, and that the costs for foreign assistance would be borne by BP. With $20 billion now set aside for the response and recovery effort, we certainly hope that cost is not a consideration, despite it being a factor listed on the State Department’s chart.

Sooner rather than later, the Obama Administration needs to acknowledge the parallels to Hurricane Katrina, rather than continue its practice of denial. If they don’t, the independent commission established by the President surely will. And most urgently, as oil continues to spew from the ocean floor, the Administration needs to learn how to say “yes” to the countries that can help bail us out from this disaster.

Co-authored by Daniel Kaniewski and James Carafano

Daniel Kaniewski is Deputy Director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI). Previously he was Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Response Policy in the Bush Administration where he served as an author of the “Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned.”

James Carafano is Deputy Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Carafano is also an HSPI Senior Fellow.

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James Jay Carafano, a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, is The Heritage Foundation’s vice president for foreign and defense policy studies, E. W. Richardson fellow, and director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies. Read his research.

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Join The Discussion

I think it's important to consider the types of support that are needed so there isn't overlap and a fully uncoordinated effort to cap and contain, however, it doesn't seem as if it should take as long as it currently is taking to get to a decision.

We are moving ahead with or without acceptance to collect and cull some of the best ideas to cap and contain the well. We did not want to wait and what better way to serve than to use the technology you've created to support the stoppage and cleanup efforts of the greatest environmental issue to ever face the world.

We started http://www.stopthegusher.com to allow anyone to submit their ideas on how to stop the flow of oil from the well and to remediate the oil currently in the gulf.

We are willing to also support Heritage Foundation in collecting and culling of potential assistance from other countries using our technology.

The noxious gases and organic compounds that are spewing forth from the bottom of the ocean will affect many people’s health, livelihood, land, air, and water they live near,etc.(not to mention the wildlife) What kind of a planet are we going to leave for our children to live on?
What can I do as a citizen to voice my disapproval of how this company has been allowed to get away with this for way longer than should be allowed? It looks like there are some very influential people and/or organizations that are pulling some strings behind the scenes. How do you fight that?

The longer this problem exsists the better chances that "cap and Tax "will pass and be accepted by the people.

My own feeling is that this was Not an accident. There are to manny coincidences,Like–for years it was -no drill-no drill All of a sudden –Ok we will start exploring for new fields but before anybody could do any thing(after years andyears of relitivly safe operations with only a few minor problems BOOM the worse "spill" in history. And then drag it out for no reason,just to make it worse.

Do you get the feeling I (for1 ) donot trust thjs administration,let make it clear —

I DON'T

To many LIES

CLOSED DOOR MEETINGS

PASSING BILLS NOBODY READ

BLAME SOMBODY ELSE

CORRUPTION

And I could go on but whats the use they will do as they please anyway.

We owe it to the rest of the world to accept help with cleanup. Although the spill originates in our territorial waters the ocean currents will spread the oil far beyond our shores, and over a much larger area which will make cleanup all the more difficult. The Wall St. Journal reported yesterday how the models for oil spills that the U.S. developed almost twenty years ago have been wrong. Let's get it cleaned up here before it makes it's way to the Caribbean and further. I feel Congress has misplaced it's priorities by first holding hearings to vilify the oil industry, rather than temporarily suspending the Jones act.

[…] nations in question would unionize. As it stands, Sweden isn’t even considering card check, so they can keep their oil-sucking boats in the fjords. The same goes for the Dutch, who offered to help without even suggesting that we go Dutch on the […]

I agree with Mark, we need more help and we should accept offers of help. Pride goes before a fall. Ignoring the problem is not an answer, it is not ever going to go away. This accident has long term effects to the world. Discussing the problem and re-hashing won't solve the problem. Ask for help, put someone in charge that has experience with oil spills and capping off the leaks, then let them do their job.

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